3 nights in Rovinji
 

I have read virtually all the wonderful posts about Istria. We will be spending 3 nights in Rovinji before driving to Venice. I'm aware that we have very limited time, so I am still not sure exactly the best use of our time. We want to visit some outlying areas, but we are not comfortable trying to plan from the map.Will someone please recommend a couple of day trips out of Rovinji ? Thanks for making everything so great, but we fear we must limit our choices.

We just got back last week and spent 3 nights in Rovinj. Here's how we spent our 3 days:

Day 1: arrive in the afternoon. Late afternoon and dinner in old city.

Day 2: Early morning stroll through Rovinj old city. Left a little before lunch. Drove to Pula and toured Roman ruins. Lunch in Pula. Brief stop in Bale on the drive back.

Day 3: Drive to Porec. Tour city in morning. Drive to Piran, Slovenia. Lunch and tour city in afternoon. Late afternoon drive back to Rovinj via hill town country. Hour or so stroll through Motovun.

Hit all of the highlights. All towns are rather small and managable and can be seen in a reasonable amount of time.

If you need any other tips let me know.

Thanks jrlaw10. Can you recommend places to eat that we shouldn't miss ?

Hi
If you click on my name, then Q4, you will find my restaurant tips.

We like Monte Restaurant. A little on the expensive side, but one of the few restaurants with an innovative menu that deviated from the Croatian norm (fresh seafood, grilled meats, pasta, pizza, salad). They have their own website which shows their menu.

http://www.monte.hr/homeEn.asp

Sorry, that should be number 7

We also ate at Monte, twice, while in Rovinj. It's excellent and shouldn't be missed! It's located just below the cathedral.

Hi
In Porec go the the pizzaria Nono. It's across from the tourist office, and has delicious pizza as well as other food. I don't know when you'll be in Rovinji, but we were there in Sept. and if you eat mussels you would be in for a treat. They also hunt truffles there, that also depends on the season

We returned about three weeks ago from Croatia and spent 3 nights in Rovinj. It is the perfect base - you will really enjoy it.

Day 1: Arrived around 5PM, checked into our apartment with Porta Antica, dinner, and a stroll in the old city.

Day 2: Drove to Porec - strolled the town, went into Euphrasian Basilica, ate some ice cream. Drove to Motovun (be sure to approach Motovun from Visijan), hiked up to the town square, went into St. Stephans, which was completely filled with scaffolding, enjoyed views of the Motovun truffle forests and then ate lunch at *Barabacan Enoteca*. This was my top 5 meals in Croatia. It is a small restaurant on the left just before you enter the main gate of the town. I had homemade tagliatelle pasta with black truffles and DH had white truffle risotto with grilled eggplant. Even their bread was fresh and delicious. Would highly recommend!

Went onto Groznjan, only 10 min. from Motovun and strolled around viewing local artists studios/galleries. We spent the most time in this sleepy town and really loved it.

Back to Rovinj for DH's 30th birthday dinner at Monte Restaurant. Others had posted about Monte, which is why we chose to go there. We loved it! It rivals some of Chicago's (where we live) top restaurants. The food was innovative, fresh, and delicious. The service was wonderful as well. It is a little more expensive than the restaurants on "restaurant row" in Rovinj, but worth it. The best meal on our trip!

Day 3: Piran, Slovenia - stopped in Rovinj's markets for fruit, cheese and bread before hitting the road. It was a hot, sunny day so after we walked around lovely Piran and hiked up to the church for great views, we hit the rocky beach to relax. Late lunch/early dinner on the Riva in Piran then back to Rovinj to watch the sunset and walk the Old City.

Day 4: St. Euphamia cathedral and lunch in Rovinj before saying goodbye around 1PM.

Have fun! Rovinj was one of our favorite coastal towns!